Railway Deployment

Railway is the easiest way to deploy both the bot and API together.

Why Railway?

• Supports long-running processes (perfect for the Discord bot)
• $5 free credit monthly (no credit card required to start)
• One-click database hosting
• Automatic deploys from GitHub
• Simple environment variable management

Prerequisites

• Railway account (free)
• GitHub repository with your code
• Discord bot token (from Discord Setup)

Quick Deploy

1. Go to Railway Dashboard

   Visit railway.app and sign in with GitHub.

2. Create New Project

   Click “New Project” → “Deploy from GitHub repo”

3. Select Repository

   Choose your discord-forum-api repository.

4. Railway auto-detects the project

   It will detect the monorepo structure.

Project Structure

You’ll create two services on Railway:

Railway Project
├── discord-bot (Service)    # packages/bot
├── discord-api (Service)    # packages/api
└── PostgreSQL (Optional)    # Database

Deploying the Bot

1. Add New Service

   In your Railway project, click “New Service” → “GitHub Repo”

2. Configure Service

   Setting	Value
   Name	discord-bot
   Root Directory	packages/bot
   Build Command	cd ../.. && pnpm install && pnpm build
   Start Command	node dist/index.js

3. Add Environment Variables

   Click the service → “Variables” tab:

   DISCORD_TOKEN=your_bot_token
   DISCORD_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id
   DATABASE_TYPE=turso
   TURSO_DATABASE_URL=libsql://your-db.turso.io
   TURSO_AUTH_TOKEN=your_token
   NODE_ENV=production

4. Deploy

   Railway will automatically deploy when you add variables.

Deploying the API

1. Add Another Service

   Click “New Service” → “GitHub Repo” (same repo)

2. Configure Service

   Setting	Value
   Name	discord-api
   Root Directory	packages/api
   Build Command	cd ../.. && pnpm install && pnpm build
   Start Command	node dist/index.js

3. Add Environment Variables

   DATABASE_TYPE=turso
   TURSO_DATABASE_URL=libsql://your-db.turso.io
   TURSO_AUTH_TOKEN=your_token
   API_PORT=3000
   CORS_ORIGIN=https://yourdomain.com
   NODE_ENV=production

4. Generate Domain

   Click service → “Settings” → “Generate Domain”

   You’ll get a URL like discord-api-production.up.railway.app

Using Railway’s PostgreSQL

Instead of Turso, you can use Railway’s PostgreSQL:

1. Add PostgreSQL

   In your project, click “New” → “Database” → “PostgreSQL”

2. Copy Connection String

   Click PostgreSQL → “Variables” → Copy DATABASE_URL

3. Update Service Variables

   DATABASE_TYPE=postgres
   DATABASE_URL=${{Postgres.DATABASE_URL}}

   Using ${{Postgres.DATABASE_URL}} references the variable from your Postgres service.

Note

PostgreSQL support requires updating the db package to use the PostgreSQL driver.

Shared Variables

For variables used by both services, use Railway’s shared variables:

1. Click project settings (gear icon)

2. Go to “Shared Variables”

3. Add common variables:

   DATABASE_TYPE=turso
   TURSO_DATABASE_URL=libsql://your-db.turso.io
   TURSO_AUTH_TOKEN=your_token

4. Reference in services with ${{shared.VARIABLE_NAME}}

Custom Domain

1. Click your API service
2. Go to “Settings” → “Networking”
3. Add custom domain (e.g., api.yourdomain.com)
4. Configure DNS as shown
5. SSL is automatic

Nixpacks Configuration

Railway uses Nixpacks for builds. Create nixpacks.toml in package roots for custom configuration:

packages/bot/nixpacks.toml

[phases.setup]
nixPkgs = ['nodejs_20', 'pnpm']

[phases.install]
cmds = ['cd ../.. && pnpm install']

[phases.build]
cmds = ['cd ../.. && pnpm build']

[start]
cmd = 'node dist/index.js'

Monitoring

Logs

View logs in real-time:

1. Click service
2. Go to “Deployments” tab
3. Click a deployment to see logs

Metrics

Railway shows:

• CPU usage
• Memory usage
• Network traffic
• Request counts

Alerts

Set up alerts for:

• Service crashes
• High resource usage
• Failed deployments

railway.json (Optional)

For more control, create railway.json:

{
  "$schema": "https://railway.app/railway.schema.json",
  "build": {
    "builder": "NIXPACKS",
    "buildCommand": "cd ../.. && pnpm install && pnpm build"
  },
  "deploy": {
    "startCommand": "node dist/index.js",
    "restartPolicyType": "ON_FAILURE",
    "restartPolicyMaxRetries": 10
  }
}

Pricing

Plan	Price	Includes
Hobby	$5/month	$5 credit, basic resources
Pro	$20/month	Higher limits, team features

Typical usage for Discord Forum API:

Resource	Estimated Usage	Cost
Bot service	~$2-3/month	Low CPU/memory
API service	~$2-5/month	Depends on traffic
PostgreSQL	~$5-10/month	If using Railway’s DB

Tip

Start with the Hobby plan. The $5 credit is enough for light usage. You can upgrade later.

Troubleshooting

Build Fails

1. Check build logs for errors
2. Verify Root Directory is correct
3. Ensure dependencies install properly
4. Check Node.js version compatibility

Bot Disconnects

1. Check DISCORD_TOKEN is correct
2. Verify bot has necessary intents
3. Check logs for error messages
4. Railway restarts failed services automatically

API Returns 500

1. Check environment variables
2. Verify database connection
3. Review API logs
4. Test database query locally

Out of Memory

1. Upgrade to larger instance
2. Add memory limits to start command
3. Optimize database queries
4. Add pagination to large responses

Example Complete Setup

Project structure:

Railway Project: discord-forum-api
├── Service: discord-bot
│   ├── Root: packages/bot
│   ├── Build: cd ../.. && pnpm install && pnpm build
│   ├── Start: node dist/index.js
│   └── Variables:
│       ├── DISCORD_TOKEN=***
│       ├── DISCORD_CLIENT_ID=***
│       └── ${{shared variables}}
│
├── Service: discord-api
│   ├── Root: packages/api
│   ├── Build: cd ../.. && pnpm install && pnpm build
│   ├── Start: node dist/index.js
│   ├── Domain: api.yourdomain.com
│   └── Variables:
│       ├── API_PORT=3000
│       ├── CORS_ORIGIN=https://yourdomain.com
│       └── ${{shared variables}}
│
└── Shared Variables:
    ├── DATABASE_TYPE=turso
    ├── TURSO_DATABASE_URL=libsql://...
    ├── TURSO_AUTH_TOKEN=***
    └── NODE_ENV=production